How much electricity do you use?

NirK

NirK

NirK

Soldato
Joined
22 Jun 2012
Posts
3,732
Location
UK
I moved into this studio flat about 6 months ago, firstly it took British Gas 6 months to set up my account! Now a week ago I got an electricity bill for £402 for 6 months! I have a PC, LED TV, amplifier and the usual things fridge, cooker etc. which are all low power usage A+ power rating etc. I hardly use any heating, a 500w oil radiator when it is cold, sometimes the wall heater on setting 1 of 3 when its very cold. The only things I have on most of the time are PC, TV, amplifier and a light bulb. In my old flat on pay as you go electricity I was paying about £25-45 a month depending on how cold it was.

Does this not seem like a massive bill? £61 a month, 2500kw/h in 6 months it says, £403.... For one person in a small studio flat! I am not sure how I can be using average of 950w 16 hours a day which is what 2500kw/h in 6 months would be, half of this was summer so no heating at all. Also I have no idea how I can dispute this because they read the meter and say it is correct so what can I do?
 
Last edited:
Did they read your meter initially or did you send any readings? Are you sure you have not paid a previous tennants bill also it does sound high for what you say especialy considering winter hasn't actually been too bad else id say maybe uv used more heating power than you expected to of done? Maybe a monitor (One u can clamp onto meter tails) will help you better
 
I live in a one bedroom flat and use £65 a month and use the same things as use but have to turn the hot water one everyday as my flat is all electric.

Yours sounds about right to me.
 
£30 a month give or take a couple of quid. 2 bedroom apartment, work from home so pretty much always someone in.

I would hazard a guess that your Av amp is to blame. I looked at getting one until I realized the power usage was silly levels. Most seemed to be over 500W. Bought a sound bar that draws 75W instead.
 
I don't use any hot water except for shower. This really is a rip off because in my old flat (which was colder than this one) my bills were about £25 in summer and £45 in winter. £61 a month would be something like £40 for the 3 summer months and £80 for the 3 winter months, which seems excessive for 1 person in a studio flat.

I got the meter reading from the agents when I moved in and forgot to check it which was pretty stupid of me but my old flat was on a card so I assumed this would be OK. Do you use a big heater a lot? I use a 500w mini oil radiator most of the time, not a 2-3kw wall heater. Not sure what I can do about it now... I am going to get a plug in power tester and write a letter to British gas, but I don't know how I can prove what I have used to them. I might have paid some of the previous tenants bills I don't know, this is the first time I have used billed electricity, it was on a card before. Bit stupid of me not to check it all properly but still the bill does seem very high as I do not even use heating unless it is really cold.
 
Bennie-Mac said:
£30 a month give or take a couple of quid. 2 bedroom apartment, work from home so pretty much always someone in.

I would hazard a guess that your Av amp is to blame. I looked at getting one until I realized the power usage was silly levels. Most seemed to be over 500W. Bought a sound bar that draws 75W instead.
Click to expand...

My amp is a NAD 326bee 2 channel amp, its rated 50wpc class A/B amp and in the manual says 290w, but I think that would be at full volume, which if I used that I would be evicted within a week. So I doubt it would be more than 100w at low / medium volume, I do use it all the time because I use it for the TV sound. I will have to get a power tester and check it.
 
You probably use more than you realise - you said you only use hot water for showers, what about washing up?

Have you compared the price for other suppliers? You sometimes get a discount for dual fuel, but it sounds as though you only have electricity?

Have you worked out how much electricity they've charged you for?
 
400 for 6 months including electric heating sounds about right, if you had gas heating then that would be expensive.

And you absolutely should have checked the meter reading when you moved in, first thing to do. Then give them that, so you make sure you aren't paying for the last people. Most accounts also allow you to enter in readings when ever you want, which you should be doing at least monthly.
 
Last edited:
1 bed flat, everything is electric. £27 a month.

Just me living here, I'm one who will put another jumper on instead of the heating.

:)
 
I am with Npower and every Monday morning I take a meter reading and enter it on Npowers site - I use an average of 62 unit's a week and pay £39 a month direct debit and am in credit at moment - this is small 3 bed bungalow with oil heating and woodburner -

I would really suggest you read meter every week and keep a spreadsheet - never trust a power company.

Dave
 
Just calculated mine...

Info: 2 bed flat with water storage heater and electric heaters (never on). Live with my partner, 2 showers a day, washing machine goes on every couple of days as does the dish washer. 2 phones, tablets and laptops on charge every day along with TV, games consoles, internet etc... No gas.

Use about 14 units per day - which is probably quite a bit (translates in to ~£2.00 a day - £60.00 a month)
 
Last edited:
How often do you leave your electric heaters on? When I first moved into my house I had a bit of damp (caused by condensation) under my stairs, I had two electric heaters on 24/7 for about two months - my electric bill tripled.
 
Kris_90 said:
How often do you leave your electric heaters on? When I first moved into my house I had a bit of damp (caused by condensation) under my stairs, I had two electric heaters on 24/7 for about two months - my electric bill tripled.
Click to expand...

Holy ****!!!!!

They're not designed to be on 24/7 - storage heaters yes, electric heaters no, no, no, no, no!
 
2 bedroom, two people, everything electric. No timers for storage heaters or water heater so can't make use of economy 7. DD is £87 pcm. Whole place is lit by halogen spot lights. grr

Previous place, 2 bedroom house - dual fuel, the DD was £62. I hate electric.
 
Last edited:
Just me in a 2 bedroom flat.

Pc/tv on only when I need them. I switch the tv off at thd wall when not needed as it still draws power on standby.

I have dual fuel and right now I am using about £30/month in gas and electric (each).
 
4 bedroom house, OFCH, 2 adults, one child.
Monthly costs over past couple of years, starting summer 2012,
70,
70,
70,started replacing halogens into LEDs,
65,
65,
65,
60,replaced tumble drier
50,
50,
50,
50,
50,
45,price hikes by NI companies,
55,
60,
60,
60, then mother-in-law stays with us,
80,
80
Worse off than I started, but it won't be forever.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom